From NEHJ: Manchester's Johnson giving career a fighting chance

It’s not that Justin Johnson wants you to believe that
he’s a sniper trapped in a fighter’s body.

He knows his role, and he plays it well.

Still, the Manchester Monarchs’ resident heavyweight has
bigger things in mind than slugging his way through the minor
leagues.

At age 30, Johnson already has done plenty of that, and besides,
he knows that there is more to hockey than picking up five-minute
majors.
There is the NHL, something he’s never seen personally but
still has his sights and heart set on.

“I’m desperate,” Johnson said. “Everybody
in here has a dream, and if you don’t have a dream,
you’ve got no business being here.”

The past five years, which covers his entire professional career,
has been about proving he does belong.

Four years of grinding in the ECHL got him to the AHL.

Now Johnson, in his second season with Manchester, is trying to
add as many refinements to his game as possible.

Not that anyone is expecting to match his ECHL goal output of two
years ago (13), which equaled his total during his four collegiate
seasons at Alaska-Anchorage.

But if the “devil is in the details,” then Johnson
aims to be the master.

“I have a thing that (assistant) coach (Scott) Pellerin
talks about all the time,” Johnson said, “and
that’s to be the ‘King of Little Things.’ That
means getting the puck out of our zone. Getting the puck in their
zone. Being able to hold onto the puck in the cycle. And making
good decisions with it, so I’m not turning it over.

"Whether it’s the subtle nuances of keeping the other team
off guard with some verbal barrages or showing a certain level of
machismo. (Anything) to make your team confident, knowing
they’ve got someone out there to watch their back.”

Johnson did plenty of back-watching last season, after the Los
Angeles Kings brought him to Manchester to keep the heat off of
their younger prospects.

That would account for the 186 penalty minutes he recorded, mostly
five at a time.

And while Johnson may not have piled up the points — just
eight, with the first three coming in one game against Springfield
— he began to prove to Monarchs coach Mark Morris that
Johnson had more to offer than merely a thunderous uppercut.

“He’s worked really hard,” said Morris, who
played a large hand in getting another college-bred heavyweight,
Kevin Westgarth, up to Los Angeles. “He wants to be a
complete hockey player. He’s got very good hands, is very
creative, and he’s got a big shot. He’s worked on his
conditioning, and is aware that if he can do more than drop the
gloves, he’ll be appreciated that much more. And it will give
us that much more horsepower when he’s on the ice.”

Johnson, who is a compact, 5-11, 225-pounder, learned about
rough-and-tumble hockey while growing up in Anchorage.

There, he palled around with future NHL players such as Matt
Carle, Scotty Gomez, Brandon Dubinski and Nate Thompson.

The competition, even as youngsters, had the effect of iron
sharpening iron.

“There was a good thing going in that era,” Johnson
said. “There were a lot of good hockey players, and that made
guys good. Having the great competition, and wanting to see
yourself up at that level makes you want to work hard. I consider
myself lucky to have grown up in that area. It’s a dark, cold
place, so there’s always ice. I had a great time.
That’s helped me get to where I’m at today.”

Thompson, the former Providence Bruins captain who has since
become the patron saint of NHL plumbers while making himself
invaluable to the Tampa Bay Lightning — and thereby earning
the nickname “Nate Boucher” as the yang to coach Guy
Boucher’s yang — has been both friend and inspiration
to his childhood chum, Johnson.

“They love him in Tampa because of what he brings every
day,” Johnson said. “They can count on him. He does
everything he needs to do to the exact specifications. He really is
the ‘King of Little Things.’ He’s carved out a
very good niche for himself.”

Of course, it was Thompson’s three-year term in the AHL, his
way of laying himself out for his Providence teammates, that
allowed him to find that niche in the first place.

Johnson figures if it’s true for “Tommer,”
it’s bound to be true for him, too.

“The only way to get there is to work for it,” he
said. “And it’s not just my dream that I hold, I have
the same thing for all my teammates. If there’s anything I
can do to help them be more successful, I can take pride in
(that).”

Around the AHL

How’s this for confidence in a young defenseman?

Down two skaters in the game’s final minute while holding a
slim 4-3 advantage on the road, Providence Bruins coach Bruce
Cassidy elected to use undrafted rookie free agent Kevan Miller to
help seal the win. Cassidy’s faith was rewarded as Miller did
his part to hold off the win-hungry Portland Pirates.

Just a few days earlier, Miller had his original AHL contract
ripped up by the Bruins, replaced by a regular two-year entry-level
deal.

That was an indication that the B’s wanted to keep the
25-year-old from Los Angeles in the fold.

“He’s a little bit older,” Cassidy said,
“but he’s mature physically and mentally. Miller came
up (for six games) last year and showed (all the) signs. With some
time down here, he could slide into the (Boston) lineup as a
physical (player).”

Miller, who spent four years at Tim Thomas Tech (aka the
University of Vermont), was understandably jazzed by the
Bruins’ show of commitment.

“It’s extremely exciting,” said Miller, who
captained the Catamounts the past two years. “When I came to
training camp, the Bruins told me I’d have an opportunity to
prove myself. I came in and worked hard, and this is a dream come
true for me.”

This article originally appeared in the November 2011 issue
of New England Hockey Journal.